Sideshows making a comeback in New JerseySideshows are making a comeback in Jersey bars and nightclubs. Roxy & Dukes Roadhouse in Dunellen hosted a recent performance by the New York Variety All-Stars, who performed sword swallowing and cigarette-eating tricks. At the Hell's Kitchen Lounge in Newark, performance artist Gisella Rose fuses sideshow and burlesque with a revue called ScarLit ArtEsque. Middlesex County has its own sideshow scene, with two local groups, Karnevil and the Amazing Traveling Circus Sideshow. (Lisa Rose/The Star-Ledger).

Carnival music bleeds from the speakers as the Lambertville resident dances on a tarp strewn with shattered bottles in a dark Philadelphia lounge. Lavery falls to her knees and crunches splintered glass with her legs. Some folks cheer, others gasp. Everyone stares. Later, Lavery removes the corset for a trick called the 21st Century Human Dartboard, which involves flying pins that pop balloons stapled to her back.

Lavery once punched the clock working retail. Now, her full-time job is shocking crowds as a member of the Central Jersey sideshow troupe, Karnevil.

"Instead of going out and getting some expensive car for my midlife crisis, I decided to run away and join the sideshow," said Lavery, 44. "People are bored. They want to see something different. They want to see something a little scary, maybe something a little dangerous. They’re living vicariously through what we do."

Gypsy Lavery of Karnevil Circus Sideshow kneels into a pile of broken glass during a twisted carnival and burlesque performance at the Raven Lounge in Philadelphia, PA Alex Remnick/The Star-Ledger

New Jersey has a growing community of entertainers who are reviving circus arts in nightclubs and concert settings.

Karnevil will be appearing Saturday at the Jersey Shore Music Festival in Lakewood, performing tricks with bullwhips, animal traps and power tools in an area between the beer tent and the heavy metal stage.

The Karnevil repertoire is rooted in vintage vaudeville routines like the Ladder of Swords and the Human Blockhead, a bit during which "Arson" pounds nails into his nose. These stunts were reintroduced to modern audiences by the Jim Rose Circus, which toured with Lollapalooza in the early 1990s.

"Jim Rose was the first person to start developing interesting, cutting edge angles," said Karnevil founder Jeff Whitcomb, a.k.a. "Arson." "He was the first one to think outside the box. It’s not just a man performing with a hammer and a nail. This is a man with a power drill. This is a man with a lawnmower."

Jason Johnson, a.k.a. "Reverend Snake," eats lightbulbs and plays Human Blockhead busking on the boardwalks in Asbury Park and Seaside Heights. He is a member of the Amazing Traveling Circus Sideshow, based in Dunellen.

"Some of the things we do are a little bit gross or disturbing and it’s exciting to see the reactions on people’s faces," said Johnson, 32, of Englishtown, who multitasks as a glass eater, banjo player and tattoo artist. "It’s a different feeling than I get playing music."

The members of Karnevil use a staple gun to collect tips after a show, encouraging audience members to stamp dollar bills to their faces, arms and chests.

Arson, of the Karnevil sideshow troupe, announces Gypsy Lavery's stunt, "The 21st Century Human Dartboard" during a twisted carnival and burlesque performance at the Raven Lounge in Philadelphia, PA. Alex Remnick/The Star-Ledger

"I was burning the candle at both ends," said Arson, 30, of Piscataway, a former pharmacy clerk. "It was the contrast of performing, where people look at me with a sense of awe, a sense of wonder to being stuck behind a register and hearing people’s inane complaints and being flat out verbally abused, for a little over minimum wage. I’d rather have people staple money to me."

Pierced strongman James Brown strikes a balance, working at a luxury car dealership by day and performing with Karnevil after hours. Brown attaches items like radiators and boat anchors to rings in his ears and face, lifting heavy objects with his head.

"People see something on MTV where they put this super dark, crazy spin on it that every single person doing this is a meth addict," said Brown, 28, of Flemington, a.k.a. "Snidely." "Or people have something in the back of their head from 30 years ago ... For the better part, sideshow has cleaned and straightened up its act."

"Instead of constantly trying to up the ante and come up with something brand spanking new all the time, it’s great to look back to our past and our roots and what brought us here and celebrate that again," said Roxy & Dukes owner Jim Parks.

The Hell’s Kitchen Lounge in Newark is hosting a sideshow/burlesque revue called ScarLit ArtEsque on Aug. 11.

"Sideshow gives people an outlet and I’m not talking about the performers," said organizer Gisella Arduino, 29, of Nutley, who performs under the name "Gisella Rose." "I’m talking about the people that go and watch it. They can be a little weird and they’re not going to get judged. We all have a little bit of weirdness inside of us."

Rose specializes in suspension. She swings over stages, hoisted up on flesh hooks inserted into her knees, shoulders or torso.

"I get asked a lot, ‘Do you do this because you like pain?" said Rose, a body piercer who immigrated to the U.S. three years ago from South Africa. "No. I hate pain but I can push pain into a part of my mind and lock it away."

"If you look at what’s going on in popular culture, you have got loads of people running around with piercings and tattoos," said Adam Rinn, 41, a.k.a. "Adam Real Man," a performer/teacher at Coney Island’s sideshow school. "The counterculture has become more mainstream which would lead nicely into the sideshow. You look at a show like ‘America’s Got Talent,’ a guy was on there swallowing nine swords. I get people from all walks of life at the sideshow school and I get quite a few people from Jersey. Lawyers, teachers, business people, bartenders, rock n rollers, the unemployed, magicians, everyone is interested."

As sideshow evolves from a fringe subculture into a pop phenomenon, photos and videos are surfacing online of teens trying dangerous stunts, Rose said.

She reached out to a 14-year-old fan who posted an Instagram photo of her hand jabbed with pins.

"I contacted her and said, ‘If you are serious about doing this one day, please go about it in the correct way,’" Rose said. "She thanked me and she hasn’t posted any of those pictures again but that’s just one girl. I tell everyone who wants to try this, find a school like Coney Island or find a mentor with proper credentials."